IN SPORTS: Talented returning starters have USC Sumter baseball team hopeful
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Masterminds spawn bat robot that may overtake drones A5 FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2017
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14 arrested for drug trafficking Ongoing operation resulted from 2014 shootings BY ADRIENNE SARVIS adrienne@theitem.com The office of District of Columbia Attorney Beth Drake, unsealed an indictment on Thursday announcing that the Columbia Violent Gang Task Force, assisted by Sumter Police Department, arrested and charged 14 individuals
from Sumter this week for allegedly conspiring to traffic crack cocaine in the Midlands area. Those arrested are: • Shane Marcus Black, 28, of Sumter; • Kevin Darnell Bradley, 46, of Sumter; • Donald Sherman Bush, 46, of Sumter;
• Domonique Keshawn Dingle, 20, of Sumter; • Dennis Jermaine Fortune Jr., 28, of Sumter; • Deshon Jaray Goodman, 23, of Sumter; • Peter Gilbert Jr., 26, of Wedgefield; • Cedric O’Neal Hilton, 32, of Sumter; • Marcus Antoine Lane, 35,
of Sumter; • Jeffery Dewayne Sanders, 31, of Sumter; • Sherman Cornelius Sanders, 38, of Sumter; • Donnie Eugene Scarborough, 47, of Sumter; • O’Brian Anthony Spann, 31, of Sumter; and • Corey Jason Stukes, 37, of Sumter. Each individual is charged with drug trafficking and conspiracy to possess and distrib-
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ute crack cocaine. The arrests are a continuation of an ongoing investigation into an illegal organization called “Tha Movement.” During a press conference
SEE DRUG, PAGE A7
Caregivers at Swan Lake-Iris Gardens
MELANIE SMITH / THE SUMTER ITEM
A mother duck, above, keeps a close eye on her new babies at Swan Lake-Iris Gardens. An Australian black swan, top right, leads her cygnets to the feeder at Swan Lake-Iris Gardens. The facility is the only public park in the United States to feature all eight swan species. An Australian black swan, bottom right, completes her nest with twigs and sticks. According to actionwildlife.org, both swan parents incubate about five to eight eggs for almost 40 days on mounded nests made from grasses and reeds.
Planners unveil designs for Shot Pouch Greenway
Coordinator sees growing partnerships from count of homeless in tri-county area
BY JIM HILLEY jim@theitem.com
BY BRUCE MILLS bruce@theitem.com
The design for the Shot Pouch Greenway is coming into better focus after consultants from Alta Planning & Design spent several days talking to the public, property owners and public officials about how to build the project. Funded by the Local Option Sales Tax, better known as the “penny sales tax” passed by voters in 2015, the plan is to build a greenway for bicycles and pedestrians along Shot Pouch Branch. The trail would stretch from Swan Lake-Iris Gardens at the south end to Dillon Park on the north end. A portion of the trail between Broad Street and Guignard Drive already exists. “We want to make the community more vibrant for residents and visitors,” said Landscape Architect Blake Sanders. Thursday evening, Sanders unveiled con-
An annual homeless count conducted in Sumter County is complete, and the regional coordinator of the process said the event not only achieved an accurate count but also increased awareness and developed potential partnerships to curb homelessness issues in the area. Dennis Wormsley, director of Any Length Recovery Community — an alcohol and drug rehabilitation center in Sumter — also served this year as the regional Point-In-Time Count coordinator for the Eastern Carolina Homelessness Organization. The non-
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A rendering of the Shot Pouch Greenway shows where bicyclists and pedestrians will be able to cross a Sumter road. cepts for adding a designated walking and biking lane on North Wise Drive where it crosses U.S. Highway 378, and adding landscaped islands where the trail would Cross Broad Street, Miller Road and Liberty Street. He said planners had received approval from the South Carolina Department of Transportation to add the islands,
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SEE DESIGNS, PAGE A7
DEATHS, B5 Vernese W. Lowery Lillie Mae P. Frazier Evelena Miller-Williams Sam Scott Joseph V. McKnight Rev. Marie M. Young
Mary S. Tennant Geneva M. Montgomery Belphine B. James Tommie Robinson Carrie B. Temoney Frank R. Powell
profit organization provides various services to people experiencing at least a spell of homelessness in a 12-county region, which includes Sumter County. The federally mandated annual PIT Count is an unduplicated WORMSLEY census of people experiencing homelessness on a given night in January in each county in the U.S. This year’s PIT Count was based on the night of Jan. 25 and surveyors asked the
SEE COUNT, PAGE A7
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Cooler with a chance of a morning shower. Tonight, clearing and colder. HIGH 51, LOW 30
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